During the entire month of December, we will be receiving a special offering for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. This offering will go directly to help support the over 5,000 foreign missionaries of the Southern Baptist Convention. Included below is a short biography of Lottie Moon, for whom the offering is named. Please pray about how you should give to take the gospel to the ends of the earth!
 
2024 Church Goal: $ 10,000.00
Amount Received: $ 

The Story of Lottie Moon:

Today's China is a world of rapid change. It's home to 1.3 billion individuals, one-fifth of the world's population. Village dwellers flock to trendy mega cities with exploding populations. And China holds it's own in the world's economy. It's very different from the vast farmland Lottie Moon entered in the 1800's. But one thing hasn't changed: China's need for a Savior.
 
Lottie Moon - the namesake of the international missions offering, has become something of a legend to us as Southern Baptists. But in her lifetime Lottie was anything but an untouchable hero. In fact, she was like today's missionaries. She was a hard working, deep loving Southern Baptist who labored tirelessly so her people group could know Jesus.
 
Her Mission:
 
When she set sail for China, Lottie was 32 years old. She had turned down a marriage proposal and left her job, home and family to follow God's lead. Her path wasn't typical for an educated woman from a wealth Southern family. But Lottie did not serve a typical God. He had gripped her with the Chinese people's need for a Savior.
 
For 39 years Lottie labored, chiefly in Tengchow and P'ingtu. People feared and rejected her, but she refused to leave. The aroma of fresh baked cookies drew people to her house. She adopted traditional Chinese dress and she learned China's language and customs. Many eventually accepted her. And some accepted her Savior.
 
Her Vision:
 
Lottie's vision wasn't just for the people of China. It also reached to her fellow Southern Baptists in the United States. Like today's missionaries, she wrote letters home, detailing China's hunger for truth and the struggle of so few missionaries sharing the gospel with so many people - 472 million Chinese in her day! She shared another timely message too: the urgent need for more workers and for Southern Baptists passionately supporting them through prayer and giving.
 
In 1912, during a time of war and famine, Lottie silently starved, knowing that her beloved Chinese didn't have enough food. Her fellow Christians saw the ultimate sign of love, giving her life for others. In her time of deepest trials she wrote,
"I hope no missionary will be as lonely as I have been." Literally starving, she grew steadily weaker. Before Christmas, 1912, Cynthia Miller, a faithful nurse, started back to America with Lottie Moon. Death came to the frail missionary, Christmas Eve, while the ship was in harbor in Kobe, Japan.
 
But her legacy lives on. The present Christmas offering for foreign missions, sponsored by the W.M.U. of the Southern Baptist Convention, is named for Lottie Moon and continues to send and support foreign missionaries in every country on the globe!
 
To learn more about the work of the International Mission Board: click here